Dear Great Book Guru,  With Labor Day weekend fast approaching, I feel I have to enjoy all those  Sea Cliff special summer moments: breakfasts and lunches at the beach, the Civic Association’s Thursday Sunset Serenades, Friday beach pavilion concerts….and, of course, reading a good book while looking out on the harbor. Do you have something to recommend?  Lover of Summer in Sea Cliff

Dear LOSISC, I share your love of summer in Sea Cliff, but remember a good book can bring you joy all seasons of the year!  Here’s a good one to start off the weekend:  Emma Healey’s ELIZABETH IS MISSING, a literary novel with two mysteries at its core.  Maud, the 82 year-old narrator/heroine, has just found a compact mirror that she hasn't seen in over seventy years in her friend Elizabeth’s garden. It belonged to her adored elder sister Sukey who has been missing all these years. The sweet, exquisite details Maud remembers of her early years in postwar England and the sadness that permeated the years after Sukey’s disappearance make for a good book,  but it is  Maud’s faulty memory- whether from Alzheimer’s or old-age dementia- that makes this book so unusual.  We are not sure if she has forgotten important clues or is she being purposely misled by those around her. The two missing persons in her life- her sister and her friend Elizabeth- come together in her mind and ours, as we try to understand what really happened long ago.  An unreliable narrator but a very rewarding read- highly recommended!